The Complete Albums Collection

Where to begin with this set? So many of these songs are timeless. Billy Joel's catalog is so deep that many "Best Of" collections of his music tend to leave out a lof of the fan favorites. There's a reason why Billy Joel stated he prefers performing many of the "album tracks" live instead of just cycling through the hits, and I love that this collection gives you mostly everything. For me personally, I love the period between Turnstyles and the Nylon Curtain. The albums released during that period contain some of the best songs of Joel's career, with special emphasis on the Stranger and the song Scenes from an Italian Restaurant specifically. I do have a few minor nitpicks with this collection. First, the album order: this collection mixes up releases of the Nylon Curtain (1982) and Songs in the Attic (1981). Second, this collection is missing the live concert in Russia before the fall of the Soviet Union. Billy Joel himself has stated that he is not fond of the recording of the live concert in Russia since he was having some issues his voice due to the constant media frenzy around those shows, but given the historical context, I think it still feels like a bit of an unfortunate omission given the historical significance of those shows. Finally, I wish this collection also included the 12 Gardens live record since that release is a pretty good review of where Joel is in his career right now, still being able to sell out Madison Square Garden and put on amazing live performances every month. Nitpicks aside, this music is so important to me because I do consider the albums in this collection to be my soundtrack while I was growing up, hence the title I gave this review. Seeing Billy Joel at the Garden was my first concert when I was 14 years old. I am so glad to see most of his catalog provided here, and $89.99 is a really good price for all the music you get with this set. I definitely recommend this collection rather than the Greatest Hits 1-3, My Lives, and other various hits boxed sets.

When I purchased this set the individual albums were listed I could search by them. Now they are all listed as the compilation and I have to look through all 150+ songs for what I am looking for. I have ITunes due to the Microsoft music not being as popular but they were so much more user friendly, between music I paid for disappearing from iTunes and songs/albums randomly rearranging themselves I wish there was a way to keep my music but leave iTunes.

❤️

Great compilation of a body of work. However when I downloaded the collection from iTunes, the download did not include track listings, so, for example, each song on the album “Cold Spring Harbor” is listed as “Cold Spring Harbor”. Without opening the track, I can’t tell which song is what. It’s like that for each album in the collection.

Just downloaded this and was super excited to get this compilation. Really peeved that each of the songs is listed as the album name not the actual song name - wth? I spend a lot of time learning to play Billy Joel on the piano and one of the reasons I paid for this package is so I could have easy reference to songs I’m learning. Any way this can get changed and updated?

Bought the collection, and everything downloaded to iTunes without song titles... For every single song in the collection, the "album" title was "The Complete Albums Collection" and then every song within a particular album had a song title the name of the album -- so every song on 42nd Street was called 42nd Street...

If you can afford it, it's worth the investment. Sure you can pick up, or download, a Greatest Hits collection of Billy Joel songs, but so many of his lesser known songs are masterpieces in their own right. Some of you might be more of a Billy Joel fan than you realized.

Artist: Billy Joel Music video: Allentown Directed by: Russell Malcachy Year: 1982 Running time: 3 minutes 45 seconds Description: Male coal miners are seen nude from behind while showering together.

I was given this box set as a Christmas present, and as an avid Billy Joel fan, I am ecstatic! All 13 studio albums are included, ranging from 1971's Cold Spring Harbor, to 2001's Fantasies and Delusions (Classical), allowing Joel's musical evolution to unfold before the listener. One of two live albums produced before the new millenium, Songs in the Attic (1981) is also part of the collection. My one complaint is that 1987's Kohuept is not part of the mix, as it was recorded before Joel "semi-retired" from music in 1994. In addtion, various rare collected masters are included on a seperate disc, including the singles released with Greatest Hits Volumes 1, 2, and 3, and his last 2007 single, All My Life. The presentation is both elegant and compact at the same time; I would have expected the physical box to be much larger. Two booklets are included with information and exclusive photographs, as well as the printed lyrics to all of Joel's songs. Overall, this is a must have for the Billy Joel fan... do not pass up the opportunity to have this timeless treasure!!! -E. Seltzer

Just saw the show in Jax. Perfect timing to release this. I have had most of this on Vynal, then CD now Cold Spring Harbor! Thanks